Offroad-Express

I tried to empty my diff oil out of my samurai last night but cant get the drain plug out, it has a 3/4" drive socket but is so tight that i'm deforming the bolt. Have tried heating the area around but no sucess. Any ideas?

if you don't find a solution give Andrew a call on 027 444 6803, he should be able to loosen it and he comes to you (mobile mechanic). sounds like the sump bolt has gone soft. might pay to get a new one....they are cheap enough at Suzuki from memory.

He does all the servicing on my Zuk and a lot of it on the Cruiser (what I can't do myself)...

jerry thats the last guy he wants to call

use a power bar and a bloody big pipe,some clown has probly had loktight on the bung thread....

good luck

thats why I said "if you don't find a solution"

sorry use a single hex socket aswell cos youle just keep fukn the bung if you dont..

or try a big hammer and a cold chisel........... I had to do this on my surf.

I have a problem wit the one on the front of my cruiser. It has a ring around it to protect it, but the ring has hit a few too many things underneath and its misshaped it so that the ring is now too close to the bung to rotate it so I spent ages trying to knock it back into shape. In the end I just took the diff head out and drained the oil that way and mopped and washed the rest out

But I won't be taking the diff head out each time I want to drain the oil so next time I'll have to spend some more time on my back.

For the cruiser, fit an Allan Key [10mm] Diff Plug,
Toyota part number 90341-18021
no more rounded off heads, make sure you get the washer with it.

oldblue wrote:For the cruiser, fit an Allan Key [10mm] Diff Plug,
Toyota part number 90341-18021
no more rounded off heads, make sure you get the washer with it.

Good advice OB thanks. Will do this today as i'm off there to get some parts and the diff oils is on the list to do....

Gher 0983
You may have some success by using a hammer to shock the head of the bung.
Two ways to do this
1) Hit the flat part of the hex head 10 times or more. Be careful to hit flat on and not swell the hex so the socket won’t fit over it
2) Put a nut inside the socket, place over the hex and then hit the outside end of the socket whilst applying counter-clockwise rotation (undoing). If possible do as Krawlr says and use a long powerbar ie 450mm or longer and a single hex socket.
Either method may shock load the threads enough to release any locking medium like Loctite.

If using heat you need real heat like an oxy/acetylene plant. Don’t bother with a heat gun nor with one of those little yellow gas canister things, they just don't provide enough heat energy. Heating the diff-casing and threaded boss will expand this external thread and possibly loosen the stuck bung.

If the bung gets rounded off, then weld a long bar directly to the bung. Once it has naturally cooled off, this may allow the bung to rotate. Don't quench the hot bung as this crystallises the hot steel, which significantly weakens it.

IcedJohnno wrote: If the bung gets rounded off, then weld a long bar directly to the bung. Once it has naturally cooled off, this may allow the bung to rotate

Even a couple of squirts with the welder on the end of the nut may be enough to loosen it

Managed to get the filler plug out so I siphoned out the oil/water using my bike pump for suction (decided sucking on the tube myself wasn't such a good plan )
Thanks for the ideas re the sockets but its an inverse square bolt so the 3/8th" driver without any sockets on is the only thing that fits,


I thought of using a rattler gun or an impact driver, would this work?
Still cant get the back ones out, I may need to try the real heat trick, i was using the yellow bottle gas torch and the heat was dispersing as soon as I applied it.

krawlr wrote:some clown has probly had loktight on the bung thread....

Loctite 243 or similar would have prevented this situation mate.

I even had trouble getting the filler plugs out of my Sammy and replaced them with 410 ones that have an easily removed male nut.

I had the same problem.

First, buy new bungs, then to get the old one out if all else fails, weld a nut onto the outside of it. The you can use a BIG socket/spanne/rattle-gun to remove it. Usually the welding process has assisted in breaking some of the thread-grip anyway.

I've started the habit of keeping a supply of new bungs, so that when I change fluids, if the bung looks at all beaten-up I stick a replacement in.

I had the same problem with my 413, i tried to get them from suzuki but there were none in the country, go figure.
i have managed to get 2 of them for mudbits in tauranga talk to Ian he was very helpfull.